Dedicated Dread | 80mi Polar Bear (<54°)
I wake up and look at the thermostat. It reads 41 degrees. I shake my head and wonder why am I doing this? I don’t want to freeze, get hypothermic, and I just want to stay in bed. Repeat for 3 months.
The Dolphin Club Polar Bear Challenge includes swimming 40 cold, non-wetsuit miles between December 21 — March 21. This year, I’ve managed to double the distance: 80 miles in the Bay (215 miles total).
It was anything but easy. Most mornings I would wake up with a pit in my stomach, knowing that the next few hours would be excruciatingly cold and I’d want to quit multiple times. When I attempted a 3 hour Golden Gate Bridge swim, a cold snap swept the Bay, and the air temp was in the 40’s with the water averaging 50–51 degrees. Most seasoned open water swimmers stayed in the water for 20–30 minutes during that time, but I pushed through with numb thighs and frozen fingers to get to my time goal.
Now with only 4 more months of training, I have to keep building up my distance and prepare for the following long swims:
March — 4 hour (Islais Creek to Aquatic Park)
April — 5 hour (R/T Angel Island)
May — 6 hour QUALIFIER!! (R/T Crissy Field + R/T Pier 39)
June — 8 hour TBD
July — ENGLISH CHANNEL
Let’s hope the cold snap is officially over and I can go back to feeling my thighs again.
